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Updating P3D v4, Client, Content, and Scenery

I've read all of the directions and steps on how to update P3D, and its almost always advisable to update the Client only. If that's the case, what is the purpose of the Content and Scenery update, and what are we missing? The newest update for the Content and Scenery I believe, mentions a fix for the airport beacons. That is something I proposed to Lockheed that needed updating a while back and I would really like to see what it looks like. What I don't understand, is the only way to update the Content and Scenery by downloading the 12 gigs or so of data, uninstalling, reinstalling? And will this have more of an effect of my add-ons, stability, if at all?
Right now I'm using 4.5 with Hotfix 1. I updated the Client only and everything is running fine, so I'm a little hesitant about touching the Content and Scenery. Any recommendations or better clarifications?
Thanks,
Dack

I've read all of the directions and steps on how to update P3D, and its almost always advisable to update the Client only. If that's the case, what is the purpose of the Content and Scenery update, and what are we missing? The newest update for the Content and Scenery I believe, mentions a fix for the airport beacons. That is something I proposed to Lockheed that needed updating a while back and I would really like to see what it looks like. What I don't understand, is the only way to update the Content and Scenery by downloading the 12 gigs or so of data, uninstalling, reinstalling? And will this have more of an effect of my add-ons, stability, if at all?
Right now I'm using 4.5 with Hotfix 1. I updated the Client only and everything is running fine, so I'm a little hesitant about touching the Content and Scenery. Any recommendations or better clarifications?
Thanks,
Dack

I don't know where you read that, but it's completely wrong.
Only under certain circumstances is update of Client-only deemed necessary.

Even the P3d v4.5 Hotfix, which ostensibly only needs the Client update, lists the changes made when both Content and Scenery are also updated:

Client Fixes and Improvements
Fixed performance issues seen on some systems and configurations.
Fixed issue where the interpolated wind direction value would be invalid in some cases.
Added configuration option to toggle UI hardware acceleration mode (UIHardwareAcceleration).
Fixed crash when re-enabling Virtual Reality (VR) while using the Oculus headset.
Fixed crash that could occur in some cases after a plugin removed its textures from the system.
Varjo eye tracking is now supported.
Improved performance when using the Varjo headset.
Fixed issue where CreateEffect callbacks would not be issued unless both xyz and pbh offsets were present.
CIGI ownship ID now set to 0 for versions prior to CIGI 4.0.
Fixed error with empty EntityAffiliation tags being written out in saved scenarios.
Fixed issue where sound volume could be incorrect when switching between interior and exterior views.
Fixed issue where PBR textures could be black in interior views when first entering a vehicle.
Fixed incorrect unit conversions for camera eyepoint altitude P variables.
Content Fixes and Improvements
Fixed missing PBR texture in F-16A.
Removed light scaling from beacon effects.
Scenery Fixes and Improvements
Increased beacon light visibility distance.
SDK Fixes and Improvements
Fixed an issue where the PBRMaterial’s effectFile property would not be updated during load.
Fixed an issue where 3ds Max exports would throw material mismatch errors when P3DMaterial and PBRMaterial were being used in the same scene.
Fixed issue with drawing and loading Annotator vegetation polygons.
Fixed several minor errors in documentation.

For any questions you may have regarding a Content update please visit your 3rd party software support Forums

Clearly the statement is there that ANY upgrade may have effects beyond that intended. The statement from L-M includes words to that effect:Content Fixes and Improvements
Fixed missing PBR texture in F-16A.
Removed light scaling from beacon effects.

I reiterate: You haven't done the Hotfix correctly... or perhaps that should be `completely`?

What issues this will bring further-on only time will tell. Poppet restricts herself to vanilla installations of P3D, but she covers the need to consider the impact of addons, which we have no idea about on YOUR installation, because you don't tell us.

You did mention beacons though, and therefore YOU should assume that your installation required Content and Scenery upgrades, which is why I mentioned them in the first place. If you want specific advice, please be more specific about you individual setup.

So there you go folks. I went ahead and updated the Client, Content, and Scenery. Everything is running fine including my add-ons. I'm not a dunce as was insinuated. I really don't need a terse answer and talked down to because I had a simple question. I notice this happens a lot in the sim forums. Are these forums made up of 13-year-olds and immature people? Here we are all trying to enjoy the same hobby and share our interests and recommendations with each other. For God's sake, this is a sim, a hobby. Can we just have fun?

So there you go folks. I went ahead and updated the Client, Content, and Scenery. Everything is running fine including my add-ons. I'm not a dunce as was insinuated. I really don't need a terse answer and talked down to because I had a simple question. I notice this happens a lot in the sim forums. Are these forums made up of 13-year-olds and immature people? Here we are all trying to enjoy the same hobby and share our interests and recommendations with each other. For God's sake, this is a sim, a hobby. Can we just have fun?

If everything is working fine, maybe this isn't something you'll want to do, but I have seen recommendations from P3D people that, after installing the hotfix, you should delete the contents of the shaders folder, and delete the P3D.cfg file and let it rebuild.

If everything is working fine, maybe this isn't something you'll want to do, but I have seen recommendations from P3D people that, after installing the hotfix, you should delete the contents of the shaders folder, and delete the P3D.cfg file and let it rebuild.

This is SOP for all updates to P3D, and has been since at least v2.x...

Updating the Shaders is also recommended for ALL Graphics card driver updates and in particular for changes of full card version number (i.e. 425.xx to 430.xx)

So there you go folks. I went ahead and updated the Client, Content, and Scenery. Everything is running fine including my add-ons. I'm not a dunce as was insinuated. I really don't need a terse answer and talked down to because I had a simple question. I notice this happens a lot in the sim forums. Are these forums made up of 13-year-olds and immature people? Here we are all trying to enjoy the same hobby and share our interests and recommendations with each other. For God's sake, this is a sim, a hobby. Can we just have fun?